Washington’s Holiday Party Season assault is in its final, inescapable stages. This city that loves its happy hours goes into overdrive with the slightest excuse, and December is the Mother of All Excuses.
But your goal, should you stop and think about it: minimize weight gain and the debilitating effects of buttery edibles so as to make the 2012's resolutions less onerous. This is where Heather Bauer, nutritionist extraordinaire, makes herself supremely useful.
Bauer's new book, Bread is the Devil, is not a celiac-ism-for-the-masses tract (as I first thought). Instead, it is a tool to identify your own personal devils – the dinner-table bread basket being one for many holiday diners – and to find simple weapons to battle them.
Related: 6 Quick Tips to Avoid Holiday Party Excess
Most of us, as Bauer observed, are old hands at the dieting game. No matter how many fad diets we try, we know that just cutting out the bread basket and ordering sorbet instead of chocolate fudge cake will have visible results over time.
With this book, Bauer highlights these simple fixes and offers practical guidance to meet your personal challenges, including a 21-day blueprint for those who need structure. Whether it’s the “free-style devil,” which leads diners to diagnose their own allergies (“no gluten! Oh, except for this slice…these three slices of cake”), or “Little Devils” (eating kids’ leftovers), there are ways to exorcise them.
Related: Healthy Holiday Swaps- What To Dish, What To Ditch
I asked Heather for some practical tips when confronted with well-catered office parties and NYE champagne (celebration devils!):
Before the party:
- Start the day with super-clean meals, such as hardboiled eggs, salads, and turkey sandwiches on wheat bread. Do not starve yourself – you do not want to plunge into hunger-relief mode the moment you arrive at the party.
At the party:
- Start with a glass of sparkling water before you launch into wine, beer and liquor – this will hydrate you, get you in a festive mood, and keep you from getting too wasted;
- Wait a half hour before you scan the hors d’oeuvres and buffet tables – people too often eat out of nerves or excitement when they first arrive, piling on unnecessary calories;
- Wear something a little fitted – ditch the leggings and remind yourself that it is worth it to avoid the bread basket!
After the event:
- Everyone overindulges during the holidays – just don’t overindulge in guilt after the fact. Close your eyes, close the mental door, and take the next minute as a new start.
Heather's best advice? “Have a glass of wine at the end of the day, and remember you’re a human being.”
Bread is the Devil: Win the Weight Loss Battle by Taking Control of Your Diet Demons, by Heather Bauer, coming January 3 from St. Martin's Press; can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.
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